


Rootless

by artsyAquarius



Category: Homestuck
Genre: AU, Alien Invasion, Alternate Universe - No Sburb/Sgrub Sessions, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, F/F, F/M, Ghosts, Grimdark, Magic, Not exactly No Sburb/Sgrub, Pale Romance | Moirallegiance, Possession, Trolls on Earth
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-04-21
Updated: 2014-07-13
Packaged: 2018-01-20 06:08:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 12
Words: 12,605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1499513
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/artsyAquarius/pseuds/artsyAquarius
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Trolls have invaded earth, but when the humans fight back, it's the innocent trolls who suffer. Now a group of both humans and trolls are on the run, desperately trying to solve things before both species are engulfed in a war that will destroy everything.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

Hi there. My name is Jade Harley, and this is my story.   
My world is full of strange creatures and darkness, but we've always managed to coexist with them. That is, until we were invaded by an alien race called trolls. Their leader, The Condescension, took over capital cities and sent ambassadors to the smaller towns, like mine.   
She tried to integrate the trolls into our society, placing the younger ones in schools and making them live in the same neighborhoods as us, but we humans didn't like it. In my town, the trolls were treated more as pests than anything else. We were told to kill any we saw.  
My grandfather and a few others traveled to the city to take the Condescension down, but they were all killed. Orphaned, my friends and I fled to the forest and arranged to meet somewhere where we couldn't be caught by the troll governors.   
Along the way, we met some trolls that had escaped a containment facility and discovered that they weren't all that different to us. They were on the run and needed as much help as we did.   
Now we’re together, but we still need to get away from both the trolls chasing us and the humans chasing the trolls. What’s more, we’re stuck in this enchanted forest filled with dark spirits and other things that want to hurt us. Our only hope is to get to the Condesce without dying and, hopefully, unite the two races.


	2. Chapter 2

Jade ran as fast as she could through the forest, navigating her way through the dense wildlife. She had to keep checking her phone at the same time as she was running; she had to know exactly when they messaged her. She couldn’t miss anything and risk getting caught. No one had sent her anything since she had fled the town, and she was getting worried. They said they’d tell her when they were safe or if anything bad happened. So either they were still on the run like her, or something so bad had happened that they couldn’t reach her.   
It didn’t take long before she was out of breath, but by that time she’d already gotten far enough into the forest that she was sure no one would find her. She needed somewhere to hide until she knew what was going on. Looking around, she spotted a veil of vines and leaves that covered the entrance to a cave. Most people wouldn’t have been able to spot it, but she had a lot of experiences hiding in forests.   
She parted the veil with her hands and stepped through, relieved to find that she was right. But her relief quickly turned to fear as she saw the small figure curled up on its side, ruby red liquid pouring from its torso.   
It was a troll; male, she thought. She realised the liquid was blood, and that he was trying to cover the wound. In a second, his wide orange eyes snapped open and he bared his teeth at her in a snarl.   
Jade stepped back, ready to run. Everything she’d been taught told her to get away from the troll if she saw one. Either get away from it, or kill it. But she didn’t think she could bring herself to do either. He was obviously in a lot of pain. She estimated he was the size of a human child; smaller than her, though. His horns weren’t sharp and deadly, but rounded. And his teeth weren’t threatening at all; in fact, they were rather blunt.   
Seeing that she wasn’t leaving, the troll backed up, still clutching his wound. “G-get away! I’ll kill you, I swear I’ll kill you if you don’t get the fuck out of here right now!”   
His choice of words startled Jade, and she flinched. She’d forgotten that they could speak fluent English. It was pretty easy to do considering she hadn’t ever met one before. She could hear the obvious poison in his voice, but she looked at the pain expression on his face and saw fear. His blood, unnaturally bright, was still flowing steadily. “I-I’m sorry. I’m not going to hurt you. I promise.”   
He rolled his eyes, then winced. “Yeah, like I’m going to believe that. All you humans want to do is hurt us.”   
Jade immediately bristled. How dare he say that! His leader had killed her grandfather and countless others without a second thought! “Your race has done the exact same thing to us!” she snapped, using a lot more ferocity than intended. The troll winced again and curled into himself even more. Jade’s eyes widened. “A human did that to you?”   
He snarled. “No shit. We were trying to escape from that godforsaken prison and they fucking stabbed me for my troubles. They thought I was going to die. Heck, I probably still am! They were going to kill us anyway, so I guess it doesn’t really matter how.”   
Jade had heard about the containment facilities, and how they sometimes experimented on the trolls before exterminating them. She sat down on the cave floor, crossing her legs. She didn’t sit too close the troll; even though he wasn’t what she expected from his species, she had no doubt that he could still hurt her. “I’m really sorry about that. I don’t know what I can say to get you to trust me, but I’d hate to see you die here without even trying to help you. My name’s Jade, by the way.” She reached into her backpack and took out a roll of bandages.   
The troll’s eyes widened when he saw it, but he didn’t move, which Jade took as a good sign. “Karkat,” he croaked out as she approached him.   
“Ok, Karkat. Like I said, I don’t want to see you die, so I’m going to bandage up that wound of yours, alright? You’re going to have to sit up and lift up your shirt so I can get to it, alright?” she tried to use her most soothing voice. She wasn’t totally sure how to handle this; should she treat him like a little kid or what?  
Karkat groaned and sat up slowly, with much effort. Wincing, he lifted his thick black sweater over the wound, exposing the nasty gash, his strange grey skin and some weird scars on his sides. Biting her lip in sympathy, Jade wiped the blood from around the wound, trying to block out the troll’s cries of pain. When that was done, she wrapped the bandage around his torso and fastened it tightly.   
“There. All done.” She said. When she looked up to see why he wasn’t saying anything, she saw transparent red streaks falling from his eyes. He was crying. “Hey…hey, are you alright? Come on, stop crying, please…”   
Karkat shook his head. “It just…it just hurts so much,” his voice broke off into a sob, and Jade had to fight her natural urge to hug him, knowing it would hurt him more. In that moment, she didn’t care that he was troll, that his kind were violent and had killed her only family. The expression of pain he wore was so real, so human, that it nearly broke her heart.   
“My friends…I need to find my friends.” He said, straightening up suddenly. “We escaped together. We’re the only ones left. All of our other friends are dead. I need to get back to them, they could be in danger!” he starts to stand up, and Jade steadies him.   
“Whoa, take it easy. You lost a lot of blood so don’t put unnecessary stress on yourself, ok? I’m looking for my friends, too, so maybe I can help you find yours.” She was hoping that if they found more of his kind, they’d know how to take care of him properly. His blood was different to a human’s, as with all trolls. It flowed faster and was thicker, which means he could die of blood loss a lot easier than she would. She just hoped she could pawn him off to someone who knew him better before it came to that.


	3. Chapter 3

Rose was navigating her way through the forest, checking the map on her phone to see where she would need to go to get to the lake they’d arranged to meet at. She was pretty sure she wouldn’t be caught; she had left the town via a hidden path that began behind her house. However, she couldn’t let herself relax just yet. It was a long way to the lake, and there were sure to be dangers.   
As she walked, she tried to stay under the shelter of trees rather than be exposed on the open path. A few minutes later, she found herself reaching unfamiliar territory and she stopped to check her phone. She was just about on the right track again when someone crashed into her, hard, sending both of them tumbling to the ground.   
Rose tried to stand up, clutching her head, and saw a troll lying on the ground not far away from her. She took a step back, though she was not particularly frightened of the troll. She’d learned enough about them from school and her mother to know how to handle herself with them.   
As the troll – female, Rose guessed – stirred, Rose took the opportunity to study her. She was quite tall, and her thin, elegant horns made her look all the more towering. Rose’s eyes were instantly drawn to the strange purple sash tied around the troll’s waist, as well as the bright, glowing skin. Her hair was angled sharply and two sharp fangs poked out of her lips.   
The troll managed to stand up herself while Rose wondered why she hadn’t heard her coming. She gave Rose a disinterested glare before putting a hand to her waist, wincing, and walking away. Before she could, Rose reached out and grabbed her arm – a move she knew was a mistake the second the troll whirled around to give her a withering stare.   
“Wait. I’m sorry to interrupt whatever you’re doing, but…are you a troll, by any chance?” Rose had to admit she was curious about trolls. She’d only learnt about them from people heavily prejudiced against them, and she was quite interested to meet one in person.   
“Yes, I am a troll. I thought it was pretty obvious, but judging from your tone of voice you already knew that. Which begs the question; why even ask?” the troll said in a curt, sharp voice as she continued walking, dragging Rose along with her.   
Rose tilted her head, giving a slight smile. “I was just making conversation. If I may ask, where are you going in such a hurry?” Maybe it was dangerous and a bit reckless to test a creature like this, but the troll seemed too distracted to bother with her.   
The troll in question rolled her eyes, sighing. “I’m looking for a friend.” She pointed to the ground, and Rose noticed a faint trail of bright red liquid leading away. “That’s his blood. The last time I saw him he was close to dying and I hate to admit that I may have abandoned him when he needed me most.” She seems sad for a moment, though still cold and close-off. Not for the first time, Rose thought about the containment facilities captured trolls were kept in. What exactly happened in there? And were they right to punish trolls in that way just to lash out at one tyrannical leader?  
“Why don’t I come with you, then? I’m looking for my friends, too, and surely four eyes are better than two?”   
The troll stopped in her tracks. She paused, thinking it over. “Hmm. I…suppose you could come. Just try not to lag behind.”   
Rose smiled. She decided to take that well. “As long as we’re travelling together, we might as well get acquainted. My name is Rose Lalonde. And if you don’t mind me asking, why does your skin glow like that? From what I’ve heard, most trolls have grey skin.”   
“Alright, Rose. My name is Kanaya Maryam. And my skin glows because I’m a rainbow drinker.” She frowned. “Or…I guess as you humans call it, a vampire?” her surprisingly open perplexed expression quickly shifted back into a cold mask. “And I’m betting that from what you’ve heard, we’re all blood-thirsty savages who will violently kill any living thing they see.”   
Rose was taken aback. She guessed Kanaya was right. She was raised believing that if a troll saw her, they would kill her. Obviously that wasn’t true. But before she could come up with a reply, Kanaya turned her head suddenly before taking off at an amazing speed.   
Rose took a moment to gather her thoughts, then followed after the troll, though she had no hope of matching her speed. When she finally caught up, she saw Kanaya embracing a smaller troll, and a bewildered Jade looking on.   
“Rose!” her friend said, green eyes brightening. “Uh, wow…I’m so glad you’re here!” the dark haired girl kept glancing over at Kanaya, as if waiting for Rose to explain. But she had no better knowledge of the situation than Jade did.   
“Karkat, are you alright?” Kanaya said, addressing the other troll with a voice full of concern. “I was half expecting to find you dead. Actually, I’d be surprised if anyone else made it, either.” Her voice grew quieter, more intimate as she spoke to the other, completely shutting off the two humans.   
The male troll, Karkat, glanced quickly at Jade before chewing his lip nervously. “She helped me. She stopped the bleeding, so…yeah. Don’t think I’m going to die yet.” He said, shrugging. There were traces of the strange red blood on his shirt.   
Rose raised an eyebrow and smiled at Jade. “So, I see you’ve adopted a troll as well?”   
Her friend shrugged, looking kind of bashful. “I couldn’t leave him there to die, could I?”   
Karkat looked around, his eyes fearful. “We still have to find the others. What about Terezi? She got…she got zapped by that thing. We have to make sure she’s ok!” he tried to struggle away from Kanaya, but she gripped his arms tightly.   
“Stop it. You’re not wasting your energy like that just after you finished bleeding to death. If she’s still alive, she’ll find us, don’t worry about that.” Kanaya said, before turning back to Rose. “You say you’re looking for your friends. Well, we’re still missing two members of our group.”  
“If they’re still alive, that is.” Karkat mumbled.   
Kanaya shot him a sympathetic look. “You two look like you’re better supplied than us. By that I mean you actually have supplies with you. So if you don’t mind, I think we’ll be tagging along with you until we all find who we’re looking for.”   
Karkat looked kind of panicked while Jade and Rose exchanged a glance. “Two exiles from rival species, joining forces while on the run from the law? Sure, what could possibly go wrong?” Rose said, with a confident smirk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm pretty excited about this story, so any comments, criticisms or suggestions for events in the plot are very much appreciated!


	4. Chapter 4

Dave looked around the forest, seeing mostly shadows and darkness. The sun was high in the sky but the trees and wildlife were so thick that barely any sun shone through.   
Which was probably why he should take his shades off. It’d definitely make it easier for him to find his way around, but, ugh…he rarely showed his eyes to the bare skies. He wore his shades so often it didn’t feel right not to, but he was probably in some danger if he didn’t soon.   
Taking his glasses case out of his backpack, Dave gently removed his shades, then almost dropped them when he heard a rustling in the ferns to his left.   
Whirling around, heart in his throat, he scanned the area. Whatever the noise was, it was far away, but making its way closer to him. He checked to make sure his sword was still safely secured through the drink-bottle holder in his bag. He had no idea what kinds of animals were hiding in this forest, but for its own sake it had better be an herbivore.   
While Dave definitely didn’t want to face a bear or whatever head-on, he had to admit he was curious about what it might be. He’d heard some pretty weird stories about strange creatures living here.   
Suddenly he heard a noise like something heavy falling and hitting the ground, and decided to investigate. He couldn’t wait there cowering forever. He slowly and cautiously walked over to the mound of ferns where he’d heard the sound, and peered over the top.   
“Oh shit.”  
Lying there, curled up and shaking, was a small troll with scary-sharp horns and creepy red eyes. And not red like Dave’s were; there were no pupils or irises or whites, just bright red.   
“H-hey…” she (?) said weakly, grinning and showing off a bunch of razor-like teeth in a gesture that was maybe meant to come off as threatening.   
But she was trembling violently and didn’t look in any position to follow through with any threats. “Hey.” Dave said, brilliantly.   
The troll frowned and lifted her nose to the air, sniffing for some reason. “Who are you? You smell weird, but not bad, exactly…” her voice was shaking, but she seemed oddly coy.   
Dave raised an eyebrow. “I smell weird? What exactly do you mean by that? Do you trolls have, like…super senses of smell or something?”  
The troll cackled loudly. “Nope, it’s just me. And can I just say that your eyes smell delicious?” her grin grew wider until Dave was sure her lips would split.   
He took a step back. That…was definitely pretty weird. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”   
The troll shook her head. “Don’t worry about it. Now would you mind helping me up? I’m kind of injured here.” She said, extending her arm.   
Dave took another step back. “How do I know you’re not going to bite my hand off?”   
She snorted. “Oh, please. If I was going to hurt you, don’t you think I would have already?”   
Dave considered this. “Everything they ever tried to shove down our throats at school told us that you would.” He muttered.   
The troll frowned, lowering her head. Her expression changed from teasing to kind of fearful. “They also tell you to shoot us on sight, don’t they?”   
Something jerked in Dave’s heart. He…he guessed he was going to kill her? Maybe? He hadn’t actively been thinking it, but it’d always been his plan if he ever met a troll. His brother had died at the hands of one of them; why should he feel pity towards them? Why should he spare her?   
But looking at her, he realised he couldn’t do it. She looked young and helpless, and she was still shaking. No. There was no way he was killing her just like that. “What do you know…looks like I forgot to pack my gun.” He finally said with a shrug, taking hold of her hand.   
She brightened up, smiling a little more hopefully. Dave helped her to stand up and she kind of fell up against him. He gently pushed her back by her shoulder and was surprised to so easily feel bones jutting out beneath her skin.   
“Sorry,” she muttered quickly, hunching her shoulders and lowering her gaze. She looked almost afraid of him in that moment, like a scolded puppy.   
“Hey, it’s alright,” Dave said, trying to sound non-threatening. “I’m Dave, by the way. What happened to you? What are you doing out here?”   
The troll rubbed her arm, still looking kind of ashamed. “Terezi. I got shot by a….ugh, what do you call them? A…a taser-gun or something. It was when my friends and I escaped and the humans started attacking us with whatever weapons they could find. I don’t know what happened to the others, but I’m on my way to find them now.”   
Oh hell no. “You’re not going anywhere on your own like that.” Is that what they did at those containment facilities? Violently shoot and stun the troll until they could barely move by themselves? “I need to find some people, too. You obviously can’t walk on your own, so I guess you’re going to have to come with me.”   
Terezi grinned. “Really? My dashing human knight, I’m just swooning here.” She laughed, and Dave felt himself smile. She was kind of endearing, in a weird, creepy way.   
“So can I ask what happened to your eyes, or is it off limits?”   
Terezi grew serious, staring at him with those disconcerting blank eyes. “They did experiments on us, Dave. I’m blind now, but thanks to a telepathic link with a dragon, I can see using my sense of smell.”   
Dave’s eyebrows furrowed together. “That made absolutely no sense.” Whatever the fuck it was they were headed into, it was going to be a long, weird ride.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since the trolls in this story came to earth at a fairly young age, a lot of the important events in their lives happened differently.


	5. Chapter 5

John ran through the forest, quickly hitting his feet against the ground in time with his speeding heartbeat. Something was chasing him, and it was most likely a predator after his flesh.   
He’d first noticed the sounds after he’d been walking through the forest for about fifteen minutes. He had ignored it at first, thinking it was just his imagination playing tricks on him, but after a while he’d realised that the noises following close behind him were all too real.   
By now he’d determined whatever was chasing him was running on two legs. They sounded almost like human footsteps, but apparently there were weird monsters living in this forest, so he couldn’t be sure.   
The only thing he did know was that he was running out of breath, and the creature was catching up. He couldn’t let himself slow down, but the thing was gaining speed and would probably have him in a few seconds. Remembering his weapon, he reached for the sledgehammer tied at his waist and swung it blindly behind him, swinging himself around in the process.   
His hammer hadn’t actually made contact with anything, so he was confused as to why he wasn’t being attacked by anything. But then his mind processed what he was seeing, and he stepped back in shock. It was a feral-looking troll snarling at him, long and matted hair blowing in the wind.   
“Fuck, fuck, fuck! What the hell?! I can’t eat a human!” she screamed, looking pretty agitated. Now that John had recovered from his shock, he could see that she was missing an arm and an eye, and a thick blue liquid was leaking heavily from the injuries. John remembered from school that trolls had different blood colours. Apparently it had something to do with their social status? He wondered what blue meant…  
“I really hope you’re not going to eat me. Being eaten by a troll doesn’t sound too comfortable. If you were something bigger like a whale, or maybe one of those snakes that eats its prey whole? Maybe that wouldn’t be so bad, because it’d be over quickly.”   
The troll gave a small, amused small, drawing attention to her blue lips and long fangs poking out from them. “You look too scrawny to eat anyway. Besides, you’re probably going to me kill me now. Even though that hammer doesn’t look like such a great weapon.” She didn’t look scared. She looked pretty cocky, actually. “My vision’s fucking horrible and I’m down to one arm, so I wouldn’t blame you for trying.”  
“What?! I’m not going to kill you! You’ve still got those really sharp teeth and I can see your sword! This is a trap, isn’t it? I have no doubt you could easily kill me if you wanted to.” You could see in her eye that she wasn’t going to go down without a fight. And while you had been taught to kill trolls, you didn’t like the idea of pounding her to death with your hammer.   
She smiled, looking amused. “You’re smarter than you look. If you’d tried anything, I’d have killed you easily.” She shrugged. “At least you would’ve had a bit of an advantage with me only having half my sight.” Her good eye clouds over a bit and she staggers.   
“Whoa-! Are you ok?” John said in alarm, taking a step towards her.   
She immediately stepped backwards, her lips pulling into a feral snarl. John jumped before she settled back down, rubbing her temple with her hand. “I’m fine. Just...just dizzy from the blood loss.” She tried to put her confident grin back in place, but she still seemed kind of hesitant and edgy to John.   
“Oh…right, of course!” John took off his backpack and fumbled through it until he found a roll of bandages and some cloth. “We should probably stop the bleeding right?”   
Her eye widened. “What do you mean ‘we’? I don’t need any help from you, ok?” John saw her fist clench and backed down.   
“Well…alright. But I really think it would be good for you if I just…bandaged up your arm? And maybe wiped the blood away from your face?”  
The troll’s face changed from hostile to afraid, then wary and curious. She sighed. “If you’re really intent on helping, then…fine. I guess you can do that.” She shrugged, but the action looked weird with only on arm.   
John smiled and walked up to her, cautiously. Even though she posed more of a threat to him, he still wanted to be careful around her, for her sake. He unwound some of the bandage and held it up to the stump left of the troll’s arm, gritting his teeth when she flinched. “My name’s John Egbert, by the way.”   
She was fighting hard to breathe normally, and John noticed she was looking away from him. “Vriska Serket.” She said, through clenched teeth.   
John worked on bandaging up her arm and then moved on to wiping her eye. He could see that it hurt a lot more than her arm, though she did well to hide it. “So how did this happen anyway?” he figured talking would help distract her from the pain, and he was kind of curious.   
Oh. Under all the blood, there was nothing in the socket.   
“Ugh…it’s a pretty violent story. When we were escaping, one of the guards shot this crazy-ass gun he confiscated from one of my friends. That gun is all kinds of powerful; nothing a human could ever make.” She said with a faint snort. “Anyway, it got my arm. And then one of my escape buddies…” she pulled a face, emphasizing the words with disgust. “She pushed me in front of the blast and the light burnt my fucking eye out. That’s pretty much where it ends, with me running off in some random direction because I can’t fucking see anything.” By the time she’d finished her story, John was done wiping her eye. He didn’t really want to look at it too much. The skin of her cheek was cold and rough when he’d accidently brushed against it.   
“I think maybe I could help you look for your friends?” John said hesitantly. “I mean, I’m headed over to the lake to find my friends, and you’re injured, so it probably wouldn’t be a bad idea.”   
Vriska frowned and looked him over. “You’re serious?” she asked flatly.   
John nodded, eager to show that he wanted to help. “Definitely!”  
“Alright, John…I can help you through the forest for a while. But just remember; I don’t need anyone to take care of me, ok? So don’t act like my hero just because you stopped me bleeding from every angle, alright?” she glared at him, fierceness appearing in her posture.   
John shrugged, grinning. “Wouldn’t dream of it.” He looked off into the forest, sure he saw some bright red not far off. “Hey, isn’t that…Dave! Hey, Dave!” he started waving like crazy, running to catch up to his friend, and…another troll?  
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Vriska race past in a flash, growling. She threw herself at the other troll and the two started a very violent-looking tussle.   
“You bitch! We were meant to be working together! Why would you do that to me?!”Vriska shrieked, shaking the other troll with weird red eyes.   
“Get off me! Get off already!” the much shorter troll began hitting her back, baring shark-like teeth.   
Dave stepped towards Vriska hostilely, hand at his sword. “What do you think you’re doing?! You can’t just attack a blind girl like that!”   
Vriska’s eye flashed dangerously and she moved quickly towards Dave, closing the gap between them easily. “This ain’t none of your business, human!”   
John panicked as he realised that his best friend was about to be attacked by a crazy injured troll and tried to take a step between them. “Vriska…”  
“Would you just listen?!” the other troll shrieked, bearing down on Vriska. “I pushed you in front of the blast to spare you, you moron! The other guard had a taser, and you really didn’t need to get zapped by those when you’re already missing an arm! I should know!”   
At the small troll’s words, Vriska back off, seeming to calm down a bit. She still looked wound-up and defensive, but at least she didn’t seem like she was going to kill anyone.   
Dave took a deep breath and turned to look at John, giving him a desperate look. “You brought along a troll for the ride too, huh?”  
John shrugged and nodded his head. Maybe letting Vriska come with them wasn’t such a good idea. “Yeah.”  
Dave sighed deeply and took his shades out of bag, re-applying them. “Let’s just find the girls and get this over with.”


	6. Chapter 6

Kanaya’s head was still rushing by the time they’d settled at the lake. She was relieved that all of her friends had survived, but she was still unsure of the humans and what dangers they posed. The one named Jade seemed very friendly and open, and had helped Karkat without expecting anything in return. The one with the pale hair, Rose, intrigued the troll, but she was cold and calculating, so it was hard for Kanaya to know whether or not to trust her.   
Then Terezi and Vriska had arrived with two more humans, which was surprising. Of course Kanaya was worried about Terezi, but Vriska’s injuries needed immediately attention. “I thought you surely would have passed out from blood loss by now,” she said flatly, approaching the cerulean-blooded troll.   
Vriska gave her a half-smile. “Yeah, well…you know how I roll. I’m made of tougher stuff than that.”   
Kanaya took in her friend’s dishevelled appearance. As long as she’s known her, Vriska has never backed down from a fight. But Kanaya was worried she wouldn’t survive this one. She eyed Vriska’s most prominent injuries and how they seemed to have been cleaned up a bit. “Hmm…I’m going to have to stitch up that eye, but I don’t have the proper equipment…”   
“Um…I have some medical things in my bag, if you want to use them…” Both trolls turned around at the sound of the meek voice, and saw Jade watching them nervously. “You should probably use the sutures first. I’ll need to stitch up Karkat’s wound, but I can do that later if I need to.”   
“What?!” Karkat emerged from his resting place next to Terezi, looking quite anxious. “I thought we were done with that! There’s no way I’m letting you stab a needle into my skin!” some blood had stained his shirt, automatically sending a rush of panic through Kanaya. The sight of his mutated blood had put a lot of the higher-blooded trolls into a rage back at the containment facility. She still worried he would be at risk, even though humans had no difference in blood colour.   
Jade clenched her jaw. She looked as if she was already used to Karkat’s temper. “Well, someone’s going to have to do it! The bandage isn’t good enough; the wound could open up any time. And I didn’t want to do it straight away because you were making such a fuss about it!”   
Kanaya couldn’t help but let slide a giggle. It was comforting to know she wasn’t the only one who’d had to deal with his moods. Karkat glared at her, rolling his eyes. “Look, just because I was pretty much dying at your fucking feet and needed help, doesn’t mean I’m going to leap at the chance to have you poke me with a sharp piece of metal!”   
Vriska sighed dramatically, tapping her foot on the ground. “Can we hurry this up? I’m kind of missing an eye here?”   
Kanaya turned to Jade, smiling at her sympathetically. “I can tend to his injuries after I deal with Vriska’s. He’s probably more comfortable with that.” Jade smiled back gratefully with Karkat grumbled something and went back to Terezi.   
The little blind troll had attached herself to the human with the dark eyewear, sticking close to him and talking quietly to him. Kanaya wasn’t sure whether to trust him or not. Like Rose, he was an emotional mystery. At least Jade and the other male were easy to read.   
Kanaya took the sutures from Jade and considered Vriska’s shoulder. “The bandaging is atrocious. I’ll have to undo it after we finish with your eye.”   
“Uh, that was my fault, sorry…”   
Kanaya was surprised to see John standing next to them. She hadn’t noticed him, and definitely wouldn’t have though that he’d helped Vriska. “You fixed up her arm?”   
The human smiled sheepishly. “Yeah. I was kind of in a rush and I’m not the best at that sort of thing, so…sorry that I stuffed it up, heh.”   
Well, that was surprising. Kanaya was definitely not expecting Vriska to let anyone help her, let alone a human. “No, it’s not too bad. It would have been much easier if it wasn’t a stump, admittedly.” She didn’t want to be too hard on him. He seemed pretty nice, if a little naïve.   
“Oh, well…is there anything else I can do? I mean, Vriska told me she didn’t want any more help, but I don’t want to just leave if you guys need something else.”   
Vriska smiled at him, shaking her head. “It’s fine, John. Just go back to your human friends, ok? Don’t keep hanging around and being a pest, alright?” Her patience with him was surprising. He gave her a wary smile before walking off, leaving the two trolls alone. 

 

After all wounds had been stitched up and hopefully prevented from getting infected, Rose invited Kanaya and Vriska to where they’d set up camp. It had grown dark, so Dave had started a small fire.   
Kanaya sat down on a fallen log next to Karkat, and Vriska sat on her other side. Terezi sat between Karkat and Dave, but other than that, the humans and trolls were separated, tension obvious in the air.   
“Ok, so, we’ve been discussing some shit about our current situation.” Dave said as soon as they’d gotten settled. “We know you trolls don’t really want to go back to the village, because you probably don’t want to be killed as soon as you get there, am I right?” It was hard to tell who he was looking at, but Kanaya guessed it was a general question. Why would he be wearing sunglasses when it was so dark? He was definitely a mysterious character.   
“Yeah, no shit,” Karkat said loudly. “I’ve already watched too many of my friends get killed by your kind to know that they have no mercy.” Kanaya winced. She didn’t want to think about all the causalities she’d seen not all that long ago.   
“You’re pretty quick to talk about ‘our kind’ when your leader is the one who killed off our guardians before they’d even reached her palace.” Dave said, an edge to his voice that sounded like a warning.   
Karkat didn’t take that warning, though. “You think we’re affiliated with that genocidal fish dictator?!” he started to stand up, but Kanaya grabbed his arm. He didn’t sit back down, but he didn’t move away either. “She’s the one who doomed us to that fucking prison in the first place! It’s all her fault that we’re stuck on this shithole of a planet in the first place!”   
“Wait a second!” Vriska shrieked suddenly, standing up and probably giving herself head rush. “Your guardians are the ones who tried to challenge the Condesce?! Are you serious?! Those guys are practically heroes! They’re all the guards ever talked about!”   
John looked up. “Yeah, that’s them. Apparently they were the first humans to ever get past her gates.”   
Vriska snorted. “Yeah, there’s no way ol’ Condy will let their offspring live just like that.”   
“Which brings us to our next point.” Rose interjected. “We can’t go home. Not just because there is no longer any home for us to go to, but because we expect there is a bounty on our heads.” She paused, contemplating her words. “This means we’re all on the run from opposing authorities. Do you think we can keep a truce together for tonight while we attempt to sleep, fugitive to fugitive?”   
Kanaya looked at each of her friends. Terezi, of course, couldn’t look at them, but she nodded determinedly. Vriska shrugged and nodded. Karkat too his time thinking about it, but after a while he sighed. “Fine, I guess it’s decided. We won’t try to kill each other, even though we’re probably in the worst shape we’ve ever been, and honestly, I don’t think you humans could kill anyone if you wanted to. But sure, let’s indulge in this weird, inter-species slumber party before we’re hunted down.”


	7. Chapter 7

There was chaos, screaming, blood everywhere. Dark green blood, and a small puddle of blue under a bulky, limp figure. Karkat was back in the containment facility, a growing sense of fear consuming him. Skinny fingers wrapped around his neck, making him gasp for air. Tall horns, wild hair and a feral face loomed in front of him, the face of his best friend, contorted in a twisted, mirthful rage. Violent, frightening words in fluctuating volume. Then a loud bang, and the words stopped and the fingers left his throat, but there was purple- oh, god, so much purple, splattering all over the ground and on his clothes. He screamed, feeling like he was tearing his throat apart. He kept screaming as the humans carried off his best friend’s body, even as the screams stopped making any sound.   
He closed his eyes tightly. He didn’t want to see any more purple, never again. There was a voice, shouting his name. He opened his eyes again, and the screaming started again because there was a human face hanging over him, and they were going to kill him, too, just shoot him like a rabid animal-  
“Karkat! Karkat, please, stop! It’s me, Jade, please stop screaming!”   
Oh. Now he remembered. Karkat attempted to shuffle away from her in the ridiculously constricting thing the humans called a sleeping bag. Jade was looking down at him, her glasses reflecting the moonlight and the tears in her eyes. She was clutching her shoulder and looking scared.   
Karkat clenched his jaw. He needed to breathe, to be alone, to get away from everything. “What happened?”  
Jade wiped away her tears and shifted her expression to one of concern. “I think you were having a nightmare. You were…you were thrashing around and screaming. I just wanted to make sure you were alright.” She sat down on the ground next to him. Just like back in the cave, when she’d bandaged up his wound. Why was she so intent on helping him? Why couldn’t she leave him alone?   
Karkat realised that he must have lashed out and hit her when he’d woken up and saw her face in front of him. “It…it wasn’t a nightmare. It was a vision. A memory.” He said, his voice quiet and shaky.   
Jade’s frown deepened. “A vision? What was it about?”   
“Why should I tell you?” Karkat snapped, his voice rising more than intended. It was his immediate reflex. He rarely spoke about his visions. He had usually treated them like nightmares triggered by the gore they saw daily at the containment facility.   
He had kind of expected Jade to fire up and yell back, but instead she looked down and rubbed the material of her skirt between her fingers. “Sometimes it helps to talk about them.” Her voice was gentle and sympathetic, but also shy.   
Karkat thought about it, focusing on his breath. He didn’t want to think about the vision again. He’d already lived through it once, and he didn’t need to see any more of it. He felt tears sting his eyes. Maybe she was right. He didn’t want to have to deal with it alone. “Gamzee…they shot him…” he wasn’t sure if he was even speaking coherently. “He had killed…some of our friends. He couldn’t take it anymore, no one could! He…he attacked me, and then they shot him.” By this time, he was openly sobbing, streaks of red falling down his face. “I know…I know he did some terrible things, no one’s saying he didn’t! But he was my moirail, you know?” Karkat realised that no, she didn’t know. Humans didn’t know about moirails or quadrants in general.   
But Jade seemed to understand, anyway. She grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him up against her, his head against her neck. She wrapped his arms tightly around his back, not letting go even though he tried to pull away. But he was tired of fighting. He finally caved in, burying his head in her shoulder and crying for all the friends he’d lost. She was warm, much warmer than he’d expected. Gamzee was on the high end of the spectrum, so he was usually cold. Even Kanaya, who was right in the middle, wasn’t as warm as Jade. She rubbed his back patiently, letting him stain her shirt pink with his tears until the Earth’s weak sun started to rise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kind of a short chapter and mostly Jade/Karkat junk, but not completely filler.


	8. Chapter 8

Inevitably, Karkat’s vision had woken up everyone else. Kanaya had risen from her sleeping bag first, and her glowing skin served as a beacon for the others to crowd around him and Jade.   
“Another vision?” the green blood said quietly, looking anxious. Karkat quickly pulled away from Jade and nodded.   
“Yeah. It was Gamzee again.” He mumbled. Kanaya glanced at Jade, seeming edgy. Kanaya had always been protective of him. It must set that reaction on edge to see him so close to a human, the very people who had put him in danger. He was surprised himself. But that was what emotions did to you; they made you feel vulnerable.   
“He has visions?” John whispered to Vriska. Karkat thought John and Jade were related somehow, but he wasn’t sure. They looked very similar, and they obviously weren’t related the way trolls were. He was pretty sure he’d heard Kanaya use the term ‘twins’ before.   
“Yeah, but it’s not like it’s any of your business, so why don’t you just go away?!”   
John looked hurt, but Karkat didn’t care. He didn’t care about any of these humans getting their disgusting noses in everything. “I’m sorry…I was just curious, I guess.” John muttered. He seemed to be clinging around Vriska a lot, sticking to her left side, as if making up for the things she’d lost.   
The blue-blood in question stretched out her hand, making it into a fist and then opening it up again. “Yeah, he has these weird dreams about the past. Even visions about times where he wasn’t even alive! He’s had visions about Alternia, even though he’s never even been there.” She sure was talking a lot about his personal business for a troll Karkat didn’t want anything to do with.   
“Wait, he’s never been to Alternia?” Dave piped up. Karkat couldn’t understand why he insisted on wearing those sunglasses. It made him look like a pretentious asshole, not ‘cool’ like Terezi thought he was.   
Karkat rolled his eyes, growing very impatient with this conversation. “Yeah, I was born there, but wasn’t old enough to remember anything properly before the Condesce shipped us off to Earth.”   
“Which makes Karkat the youngest of us,” Terezi whispered to Dave, though it couldn’t really qualify as a whisper considering everyone could hear it.   
“That’s not true and you know!” Karkat blurted angrily.   
Kanaya chuckled softly, covering her mouth with her hand. “It is kind of true. Technically, you are the youngest, by quite a bit.” The red blood rolled his eyes yet again. He didn’t need another reason for people to baby him and feel like they needed to take care of him.   
Rose frowned, looking interested. “Technically? What other way is there of looking at it? He was born before you, so doesn’t that mean he is younger than you, on any level?” It was weird that even when she was asking questions, she never sounded confused. Just full of herself and too smart for her own good.   
Kanaya turned to her. “Troll biology is a lot more complicated than a human’s. You’re familiar with the hemospectrum, right?” Rose nodded. None of the other humans said anything, so they must have known about it, too. “Those on the higher end of the spectrum live longer, and therefore age slower. Well…” she bit the inside of her cheek. Karkat knew she’d developed this habit instead of biting her front lip when her fangs had grown in so she wouldn’t bleed all the time. “We all grow at the same rate until we reach adolescence, then the highbloods take longer to mature after that.”  
“Which colour is high, again?” John asked Vriska quietly. “I always forget…”  
Vriska bumped him with her hip, grinning. “Blue’s the best colour, John, trust me. It’s the highest you can get on the spectrum without being a crazy-overlord type like Her Imperial Condescension.”   
Jade frowned, staring at Karkat analytically. “So that would make you…on the lower end of the spectrum?” she asked carefully, reminding Karkat that, yes, she had seen his blood colour. Though most of the trolls he’d met had seen his blood or at least known about it, it was still an instinct to want to hide it.   
He let out a heavy sigh. “I am on the low end of the spectrum. In fact, I’m so fucking low I’m not even on the goddamned thing! I’m a mutant, which means it’s a fucking miracle I wasn’t killed straight away.” Ever since he could remember, he’d always been extremely defensive of his blood colour. He’d never lived on Alternia, but he still felt a deathly fear of being culled off for having blood that wasn’t right.   
Jade recoiled from him, looking at him with sad eyes. Why did she look at him like that? Like she actually cared what happened to him!  
“I think right about now would be a great time to stop talking about troll biology, don’t you think?” Terezi chimed in, wearing the grin Karkat hadn’t seen in a while. “How about we rustle up some things for breakfast? I don’t know about you guys, but I’m starving!” Karkat instinctively turn to look at her and saw her eerie red eyes. They were still a shock to him. She’d never told him what kind of experiments had been done to her, but he couldn’t imagine what point blinding her would serve. She’d coped with it amazingly well, but Karkat couldn’t believe that it hadn’t hurt her at all.   
“That’s an excellent idea, Terezi. I suggest we split up and meet back here when we’ve found something.” Kanaya said, standing up and brushing off her dress. In the containment facility, the humans had made them wear plain, scratchy clothes, and their signs were carved onto tags that hung around their necks. Kanaya had told Karkat that on Alternia, she made her own clothes. He would have liked to see her wear them, at least once.   
Jade also jumped to her feet. “Right, um…I’ll grab my rifle and I’ll see if I can hunt anything down for us to eat later. We’ll meet back here in an hour. If the others aren’t back by then…well, we’ll look for them! We leave no one behind, alright?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some of the things spoken about here are just headcanons of mine, and it makes more sense for the plot.If you have any questions about the story, I'd be happy to answer them! (provided there's no spoilers!)


	9. Chapter 9

Vriska kept her hand at the hilt of her sword as she walked behind John. They had gone off with Kanaya and Rose, which was probably for the best. Vriska didn’t feel comfortable being stuck with Karkat or Terezi for the duration of the hunt. At least she trusted Kanaya enough.   
Rose, on the other hand, was a different matter. She was really stuck-up, and seemed a little too curious about Kanaya. She always had an amused smile on her face, like this whole thing was child’s play. Vriska didn’t like her at all. She looked too intelligent for her own good.   
“So, John. Do you really kill things with that hammer?” the blue-blood asked. She was genuinely curious about it. The weapon didn’t seem like the most practical thing for hunting, but John seemed pretty skilled with it.   
“Hmm?” John turned around and waited for her to catch up with him before speaking. “Well, usually I can hit things hard enough to knock them out, and then Jade usually finishes it off for me. Dave and Rose sometimes kill stuff for me when they’re around.”   
Rose gave him a sideways glance and a small smile. Vriska looked at her hands and saw that she was holding two long, sharp knitting needles. They looked like they were made out of ivory or something similar, and they definitely looked sharp enough to stab something and cause a permanent wound.   
Looking at the things brought to mind a different kind of needle, the ones attached to syringes full of liquids with unknown properties. Vriska decided to look back at John rather than think about her recent past. “I saw Dave carrying that hulk of a sword. What weapon does Jade use? Throwing knives or something?”  
“Jade has a rifle. Quite a few, actually. She took the biggest one with her.” John said casually. Vriska was surprised. Jade didn’t look like the kind of girl who used a gun. She looked too weak and fragile, but then again, maybe that’s normal for humans. “Dad and Grandpa used to take her and me out on hunting trips together. But Grandpa would head out with Jade sometimes and give her private training. She’s a pretty handy markswoman! She just needs to see her target and BAM! It’s dead!”   
John was grinning like an idiot, but Vriska gave an alarmed glance to Kanaya. She’d heard too many gunshots in her time. Would Jade shoot one of them if it came to that?   
Kanaya returned the glance with a concerned stare. Even after all the distance she’d try to put between the two of them, she still worried for Vriska. How sweet. Too bad it wasn’t her responsibility to care anymore.   
“How good are you with that sword?” Rose said cordially, like she was discussing the weather. Why was she being so polite? It’s like no one ever told her girls with pointy fangs and yellow eyes are dangerous!  
Vriska rolled a shoulder and help her head up, reminded that she had a reputation to uphold. “I’m excellent at it. Actually, I’m pretty sure I could take up any weapon and be a master at it. Growing up on Alternia pretty much demanded you be an expert at fighting.” Or you die, she thought, but didn’t say.   
Rose tilted her head, staring at Vriska kind of condescendingly. “Would you still be a master of weaponry with only one arm?”  
The blue-blood tensed her muscles, getting ready to shout at the human.  
“Vriska,” Kanaya warned quietly, her name an order to be quiet. “Please don’t start anything. Can’t we just find something to eat without getting into a fight?” she said the words softly, looking like she was very, very tired. The bags under her eyes were even more prominent now that her skin glowed brightly, and the massive loss of blood she suffered from a few hours ago must have taken its toll.   
“I didn’t even fucking say anything!” Vriska snapped, bristling. “It’s not your business to calm me down anymore, alright?! You don’t need to be my pacifier anymore! You made that perfectly clear back at the facility! Well, guess what? I’m not the only one who’s done bad things here! You’re not guilt-free either, Maryam!” she rushed past Kanaya and Rose, but was stopped by John’s hand on her arm.   
She quickly whirled around, snarling and wrenching her arm free from his grip. “Don’t touch me!” she snapped, taking a few steps away from him.   
John held up his hands cautiously and backed down. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry, I won’t do it again.” His voice was quiet, soothing. “I just saw something in the bushes over there. I didn’t want you to scare it off.” He slowly pointed past Vriska, to a clump of shrubs. There was something alive in there. The troll couldn’t make out what kind of animal it was, but it was small and black, and didn’t seem to have any fur.   
Kanaya and Rose looked over too, and silently started creeping towards the thing, Rose wielding her needles. Vriska crept towards the shrubs from the other side and heard John follow behind her. She readied her sword, not being able to balance it as well with only one hand to support it.   
The creature scurried away from her and stalled between the shrubs and the two other girls. It looked like nothing Vriska had ever seen before. It had a shiny black exoskeleton and a short, stocky body. The four circled it, being careful not to let it slip out of their reach, though Vriska wondered if they’d actually be able to eat it. As it panicked and tried to flee, it switched between walking on all fours and its two back feet. It was shaped sort of like a feline, but without a tail. It might have been a common creature on Earth, but it would definitely be considered an oddity on Alternia.   
Rose rushed forward and deftly threw both needles into the thing’s blank white eyes. Immediately John ran towards it and swung his hammer at its head, knocking it flat on its back. It looked like a coordinated effort, like they’d practised it a million times. Rose extracted her needles from its eyes and shoved one straight through the middle of its chest, breaking the exoskeleton with ease.   
Vriska couldn’t see the action very well, but the creature stopped moving. John stepped away from it, panting, and Vriska could see blood splattered on him. Bright red blood, strangely the exact colour of Karkat’s.   
“What is that thing?” Kanaya asked, looking as confused as Vriska felt.   
John frowned. “I don’t know! I’ve never seen anything like it!”  
Rose was in the process of wrapping the thing up in some newspaper she’d pulled from her bag. Seems she’d come prepared. “Hopefully we can get some meat from it. And if we can’t, I’m sure we can trust Dave and Jade to have found something more sustainable.” She deposited the thing in her bag, not seeming to enjoy holding it. She turned to John. “It must be one of those ‘monsters’ everyone says live in this forest. If we can’t eat it, it would be interesting to study it, and see what exactly it is. And, hopefully, what more we can expect from here.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow I'm terrible at writing violence and hunting and stuff. I'm sorry if that was too gross for people to read. I won't be writing a lot more of killing innocent imps and things, I promise.


	10. Chapter 10

“Hmm. They’re still not back yet.” John pondered for what had to be the third time. They had decided to wait until Terezi, Karkat and the other humans returned before deciding if they should cook the creature (and, if so, how they were going to go about it). No one felt like picking it apart to look for the meat, so they hoped the others would bring something back.   
Rose sighed, twirling around one of her needles between her fingers. “I hope they’re alright. I don’t think they would be in any real danger, though. I’m sure Dave or Jade would have tried calling us if they were.”   
Kanaya chewed her cheek. Her throat felt dry, very dry. She kept giving nervous little coughs to try and sooth it, but it just made everything worse. As much as she didn’t want to admit it, she was thirsty, and not in the way that could be fixed with water. She needed blood, and she hadn’t had any since she first became a rainbow drinker.   
Looking around at her companions, she felt her thirst grow. Her heart beat faster as she noticed the scent of blood under the others’ skin. If she focused hard enough, she could imagine the liquid flowing through their veins, pinpoint the arteries on their necks she could easily pierce.   
She needed to get out of there.   
“I’ll go look for them.” Kanaya said hurriedly, already standing up and moving quickly, unknowingly interrupting a conversation between John and Vriska.   
Rose raised her head from watching her needle. “I’ll go with you.”   
Kanaya frowned. “Really? You don’t have to…”  
“Um, is that such a good idea?” John interjected quietly. “I mean, are you going to be ok?” he spoke to Rose, but tilted his head very quickly in Kanaya’s direction.   
Oh. He was worried that Rose was in danger. Of Kanaya.   
“Don’t worry, John, I’m sure we’ll be fine. They won’t be too far away, and Kanaya and I are capable of taking care of ourselves.” Rose said without flinching. She either didn’t know John was concerned about violent trolls, or she was purposely ignoring his concerns in order to not offend Kanaya. “Don’t you think so?”   
It took the jade-blood a while to realise the human was talking to her. “Hmm? Oh…yes.” Yes, Kanaya was excellent at making intelligent conversation to convince the humans to trust her.   
Rose smiled reassuringly at John. “We’ll only be gone a few minutes. You and Vriska can try to set up some tents in case it rains tonight.” She started walking, and before Kanaya followed her, she shot a glance at Vriska.   
The blue-blood was staring at her over her shoulder, trying to not make it obvious. She looked a bit concerned and wary, and possibly hesitant to say anything. Kanaya had heavily felt the coldness between them since they’d left the facility, and Vriska’s earlier outburst had made her realised just how much she was hurting. She missed Vriska, but they were both too proud to admit it.   
She caught up to Rose in a few steps, wishing she had the courage to say something to Vriska. Instead, she decided to try and make conversation to distract from her thirst. “So…you and John are close?” maybe not the most interesting question, but a conversation started for sure.  
Rose raised an eyebrow. “Yes, I suppose we are.” She said as they walked through the forest. It was quiet, and oddly serene. “Our families grew up very close, and our respective guardians were determined to make sure we stuck together. They often took us out to train together.” she looked down and lowered her voice. “Sometimes I wonder if they knew all along that they were going to have to leave. I mean, I’m pretty sure other girl’s mothers don’t teach them how to kill a bear with a pair of knitting needles before the age of ten.” She laughed softly. “Our father was particularly tough on Dave. My brother was never safe from sneak attacks.”  
Kanaya swallowed dryly, trying to moisten up her throat. “It does seem like they were preparing you for something.” Her voice came out thin and raspy, like she’d just attempted to drink a glassful of desert sand.   
Rose looked up at her with worry. “Are you alright?”   
The troll’s hand flew to her neck. “Thirsty,” she croaked.   
Rose reached to the side of her backpack. “You can have some of my water if you….oh.” she eyed Kanaya curiously. “You don’t mean that kind of ‘thirsty’, do you?”  
The jade-blood shook her head, looking away. She shouldn’t have let Rose come with her. Now she was in danger. The blood looked so easy to extract from her thin skin. Kanaya couldn’t allow herself to attack her and lose the trust of all the humans. She had to control herself. She was a new rainbow-drinker without a mentor to guide her; surely it was natural to feel these urges. She’d just have to supress them for as long as she could.   
“You can have some of my blood, if you want.” Rose said casually.  
Kanaya stared at her in shock. “What? No. That’s…that’s not a good idea.” She took a few steps back. Rose couldn’t be serious, could she?  
The girl frowned, walking forwards to match those steps. “I don’t think so. You’re obviously suffering a lot. How long has it been since you’ve had a drink?”  
Kanaya furrowed her brow, thinking. “A day” and that was her first drink. It was all very rushed, when she’d turned. She did a few things she regretted, drank blood from a dear friend and then made a hasty escape into the wild.   
“Then you have to let me do it.” As if she would be the one doing the deed. “I don’t know if human blood is good for you or not. But I think it’s worth a shot, don’t you think? You’re going to need all your strength.”  
She walked even closer, and Kanaya had to clench her jaw to stop herself seeking out the vein in Rose’s neck. “I…I can’t. I don’t want to hurt you.” She should have pushed the human away, but she didn’t want to touch her. She still didn’t know her own strength.   
Rose reached out and grabbed her shoulder, gently pushing her down. “Sit down, please,” she said softly. Kanaya obliged, hesitantly. Rose knelt on the ground next to her, very close. “Please, Kanaya. It’s for your benefit. I want to help you.” Her voice was so soothing, and she was so close and warm. Kanaya’s thirst was burning her throat, encouraging her to drink, and the pain made her eyes water. Translucent green tears dripped from them, and Kanaya felt a warm finger brush them off her cheek.   
Rose cupped the troll’s face in her one hand, and moved forward, baring her neck. Kanaya licked her fangs, staring at the smooth soft skin in front of her. Before the nagging little voice in her head could stop her, she placed her mouth on the curve of Rose’s neck and sinking her fangs in.   
She drew blood quickly, and the flavour hit her immediately. She felt Rose gasp, then lay her head against Kanaya’s shoulder. The troll put one arm around the human’s middle to support her, and with the other, lifted one of Rose’s arm onto her shoulder. As she continued feeding, she felt Rose’s breathing even out. Kanaya herself was feeling a lot better already; she felt revitalised and full. She was very aware of how much blood she was taking. She just needed a little bit more before she was done.  
“What the fuck is going on here?”   
Kanaya looked up sharply to see Dave standing with his sword in hand, Jade next to him and Terezi and Karkat rushing up beside them. Looking up turned out to be a bad idea, seeing as it pull the drinker’s fangs away from Rose’s neck before closing the wound. Obviously feeling drained from the blood loss, Rose tried to stand, scarlet blood dripping from her neck.   
“What did you do to her?!” Dave snapped, muscles tensed.   
“Dave, wait…” Terezi interjected.  
“You fucking attacked her! Why was she out here alone with you?!” he moved forward, wielding his blade with menace.   
“Don’t threaten her, you asswipe!” Karkat shouted, storming up to the human.   
Dave turned, his sword pointing at the mutant-blooded troll now. “She attacked my sister!”  
“She didn’t attack anyone. I let her bite me.” Rose said, though her voice was weak.   
“You let her bite you?! What the fuck for?!”  
“Rose, are you ok? You aren’t going to faint, aren’t you?” Jade said, looking quite pale herself.   
Kanaya looked around, heart racing. Everyone was too close, too loud. She couldn’t think straight.   
“Kanaya, why would you bite her?” Terezi said accusingly.   
Rose rolled her eyes. “Would you listen? I’m trying to tell you what happened!”  
“Where is John?” Dave demanded. “He shouldn’t have left you here alone! I knew we couldn’t trust them. She could have killed you!” he gripped his sword tighter, training it back on the jade-blood again.   
Kanaya took another step back. He wanted to kill her. She was sure of it. Now she knew why humans locked up trolls and tortured them. They viewed the alien species as monsters. They were a danger, a threat, never to be trusted. Kanaya felt like she was going to be sick.   
“Kanaya?” Karkat’s soft voice called out, full of worry, fear and confusion. He made a move towards her, as if to embrace her or try to comfort her.   
Kanaya ran.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My first time writing about blood sucking, so I hope it wasn't too messy.   
> I had to keep asking my mum for good words and I didn't have the heart to tell her I was writing about inter-species lesbian vampirism.


	11. Chapter 11

“Kanaya!”  
This is the worst thing that could happen. They’d lost the trust of the humans just like that, just because she was so weak.   
“Kanaya, slow down!”  
Now they were doomed for certain. Kanaya hadn’t been able to see the look in Dave’s eyes, but she knew he wasn’t going to let her near his sister anytime soon.   
“Kanaya….fuck….slow down! You know I can’t keep up with you!”   
The jade-blood stopped dead in her tracks, Karkat’s voice bringing her back to reality. She turned around to see him panting heavily, hunched over.   
“Kanaya, where in hell do you think you’re going?!” he demanded.   
Kanaya avoided his gaze, not out of breath in the slightest. “I…I just needed some air. Things were getting volatile, Karkat, you saw it. Someone was going to get hurt.” She tried to keep herself composed, but her voice trembled.   
Karkat frowned up at her, serious concern showing in his face. “I wouldn’t let them hurt you. Terezi and Vriska wouldn’t, either.”  
Kanaya smiled a little. He seemed to think their roles were reversed now. Now, she was the one that needed protecting.   
“Kanaya, listen to me, you’re ok, aren’t you?”   
She hadn’t noticed that she’d started crying. She tried to wipe away her tears and reassure him she was fine, but when she opened her mouth she could only sob.   
Instinctively Karkat reached towards her, and just as naturally Kanaya let him embrace her. “It was just like when we first got to earth. We were like cornered animals, and you were so small, and I thought they were going to kill you…” she said between her sobs. Recollections surfaced to her mind; desperately using herself as a shield to protect the tiny troll who had only recently pupated and had no means of defence.   
“Shhh. It’s alright. We’re not going to be trapped again, ok? We’re not going to let them take us.” He whispered soothingly, stroking her back gently. Kanaya let her crying stop and her breath even out before they pulled apart.   
Karkat looked her in the eye, serious now. “I’m really worried about you. Why didn’t you tell us? You know I would’ve let you drink from me.”  
Kanaya wiped her eyes. “I didn’t want to inconvenience you.” She muttered.   
Karkat scoffed. “Inconvenience me? Wow, yeah, that’s so thoughtful of you. I’ll just let you die of starvation or dehydration or whatever so I don’t have to deal with a few seconds of being uncomfortable.” He rolled his eyes at her, unimpressed.   
“I know it hurts you. I didn’t want to do that to you again.” He’d winced a lot more than Rose had, and it seemed a lot more painful to him. Maybe it was because troll skin is a lot harder to break than a human’s?  
Karkat crossed his arms over his chest. “So I’ll just get used to it, whatever. It’s better than you debilitating yourself so much that you’re not even you anymore!” he exhaled heavily, looking sad. “We really need you to be strong right now. You’re probably the only sane one of us trolls, maybe the humans too, I don’t know. You’re the one holding us all together.”  
Kanaya sighed. “And now I’ve ruined it for all of us. The humans won’t help us anymore. I made sure of that.”   
“Why is this such a big fucking deal?! All you did was bite her, it’s not like you…broke her leg or anything! And she was standing up for you! If you’re worried about…Sunglasses McDouchebag, he can get over it! We’ll just go right back and reason with them!”   
Kanaya considered this. Maybe it was all just an overreaction; a case of an overprotective…sibling…getting anxious over an unfamiliar occurrence. But that didn’t seem completely likely. “If you say so…” she took a deep breath, calming herself. “Hopefully by the time we get there, Rose will have convinced them I’m not a bloodthirsty monster.”   
Karkat glanced at her, a slight smile playing at his lips. “We can only hope.”


	12. Chapter 12

The silence on the walk back to camp was so obvious, even Terezi could almost see it. There was a heavy tension in the air, and Terezi wasn’t sure if most of it was between Dave and Rose, or Dave and everyone else. Jade mostly seemed confused and concerned, while Terezi was carefully calculating the situation.  
As soon as they were in the vicinity of the campsite, Vriska stood up and approached them. “Where’s Kanaya?” she said to Terezi, looking a bit stressed. “And Karkat, for that matter.”   
“That bitch bit my sister.” Dave muttered venomously.   
“What?!” Vriska lunged towards him, but Terezi grabbed her arm quickly.   
“Hold up. That’s not the whole story.” The blind troll said calmly.   
Rose bristled, clenching her jaw and rolling her lavender eyes. “For the last time, she didn’t bite me! I practically forced her to feed from me, and now all that’s wrong is that I’ve got some of my own blood on my neck.” She turned to her brother. “You’re making things worse by blowing this way out of proportion. You don’t need to shield me from everything, you know.”   
Dave hesitated. Terezi sensed there was something else going on here. She didn’t know much about the human concept of siblings, but she guessed Dave felt pretty protective over his. Maybe he felt the need to replace their guardians?   
“Whoa, wait…Kanaya drank your blood? Like a vampire kind of thing?” John said. He seemed a bit slow, in Terezi’s opinion.   
“Stop talking shit about Kanaya, ok?!” Vriska snapped. “If blondie says it wasn’t an attack, it wasn’t a fucking attack! You don’t know us, so stop making assumptions about us!”  
“Yeah, you’re right, we don’t know you! That’s why we can’t trust you not to hurt us!” Dave growled, clenching his fists around the handle of his sword.   
Jade stepped towards him, speaking quietly and softly. “Dave, please, calm down. You’re overreacting. We don’t need to jump to any conclusions.” The two humans stared each other down, Jade seeming to calm Dave with just her eyes.   
Terezi tilted her head, assessing the situation. “Let’s just calm down. No need for rash decisions or accusations, right?” she turned herself towards Dave. She found it easy to guess his motives and what was going through his head, so she thought it would be simple enough to calm him down. “There was no harm meant, I’m sure. When they get back, we can talk it out as much or as little as you like.”   
The slight scent of cherry red blood hit Terezi, and she grinned. “Welcome back, guys,” she could feel the shame radiating from Kanaya, and Karkat seemed ready to fight someone for her.   
“Are you both ok?” Jade’s genuine concern surprised Terezi. All of the other humans mostly seemed indifferent to the trolls until now, but Jade appeared to care for them.   
Karkat and Kanaya glanced at each other. “Yeah, we’re fine.” Karkat answered.   
Kanaya swallowed hard, finally raising her head. “And, um…how are you feeling, Rose?” she asked quietly.  
Rose smiled warmly at her. “I’m feeling great, thank you.”   
“Hey…Kanaya?” Dave spoke up. “No hard feelings, right?” as the words came, Terezi could feel him slipping back into his ‘cool kid’ act, pretending everything that had happened wasn’t a big deal and hadn’t affected him.   
Kanaya looked a little befuddled. “Hmm? Oh, um…no. No hard feelings.” She stared at him like she was expecting him to say more, but Terezi didn’t think she’d get any more of an apology than that.   
“So what are we doing now, guys?” John said, yawning. “It’s getting kind of late isn’t it? If you don’t mind, I think I’m gonna hit the hay now.” he stretched his arms out in front of him, then started unfolding his sleeping bag.   
“I think we could all use a rest.” Rose observed. “It’s been a long day. And we have a lot to discuss in the morning.”   
Terezi assumed these ‘discussions’ would be about whether they would stay together or split up. If she was being honest, she thought they would be better off if they stayed in one group. Vriska was the only one with a weapon, and even then she was considerably impaired. The trolls needed all the help they could get, and the humans were the only ones who seemed willing to give it to them.   
Terezi covered herself in blankets she had borrowed from Dave, and curled up next to Karkat. His mutated blood was good for one thing, at least; it supplied a lot of body heat. “Hey,” she whispered after she was sure the humans were asleep.   
“Hey,” Karkat’s husky reply came straight away.   
“So Kanaya’s doing ok?”   
Karkat took a heavy breath. “I think so. I was pretty stupid to not see how bad she was feeling.”   
“It’s not your fault. No one else noticed it, either. Kanaya does a good job of hiding herself when she wants to.”  
“Yeah,” he sighed, and Terezi heard him turn around. “Everything’s changing, isn’t it?”  
“Yeah,”  
“It has to be better than the containment facilities though, right? I mean, at least we’re able to be outside, and seeing things other than concrete walls.”   
Terezi recalled how Karkat would barely remember anything other than the miserable building they’d been prisoners in. Whereas Terezi had memories of Alternia and the life she could have lived there. “I think it should be an adventure, if anything,”   
“It’ll be that alright. Listen, we should probably get some sleep. If…if they do decide to get rid of us tomorrow, I want to have enough energy to face what’s coming for us.” He turned again to face away from her, and though his breathing had slowed Terezi could tell he wasn’t falling asleep anytime soon.


End file.
